Racing the Rain: A Novel

Racing the Rain: A Novel

From the author of the <I>New York Times</I> bestselling <I>Once a Runner</I>€"€œThe best novel ever written about running€ (<I>Runner€s World</I>)€"comes that novel€s prequel, the story of a world-class athlete coming of age in the 1950s and 60s on Florida€s Gold Coast.<br><br>Quenton Cassidy€s first foot races are with nature itself: the summer storms that sweep through his subtropical neighborhood. Shirtless, barefoot, and brown as a berry, Cassidy is a skinny, mouthy kid with aspirations to be a great athlete. As he explores his primal surroundings, along the Loxahatchee River and the nearby Atlantic Ocean, he is befriended by Trapper Nelson, €œthe Tarzan of the Loxahatchee,€ a well-known eccentric who lives off the land.<br> <br>In junior high school, quite by chance, Cassidy discovers an ability to run long distances, but his real dream is to be a basketball star. Still, Cassidy absorbs Nelson€s view of running as a way of relating to and interacting with the natural world. Though he is warned of Nelson€s checkered past, Cassidy dismisses the stories as superstitious gossip, until his small town is stunned by the disappearance of a prominent judge and his wife. Cassidy€s loyalty to his friend is severely tested just as his opportunity to make his mark as a gifted runner comes to fruition.<br> <br>John Parker€s prequel to the <I>New York Times </I>bestseller <I>Once a Runner</I> vividly captures how a runner is formed and the physical endurance, determination, and mindset he develops on the way to becoming a champion. <I>Racing the Rain</I> is an epic coming-of-age classic about the environments and friendships that shape us all.